#sea agori au

[byz-was-here]

Hewkii and macku are married in the sea Agori AU. I don't make the rules.

[toa-kirhan]

While writing some notes for RoS, TPTB, and TYQ, I noticed an odd time discrepancy concerning a certain cliffhanger. So, I decided to comb over RoS, Sahmad’s Tale, TPTB, and TYQ to put together a more detailed timeline to help figure out when exactly everything occurs during those last two serials and where everyone is.

Helryx, Axonn, Brutaka, Artakha, Miserix, Tuyet, Lewa, Hafu, and Kapura all get cast out of the MU into space while Teridax is flying to Bara Magna. They’re then saved by Vezon who pulls them into the CGB’s fortress.

While they debate whether to free him, the BoBM occurs which takes several hours (the time it took Sahmad to travel north w/ Telluris and talk w/ Metus). Lewa gets bored and leaves after the BoBM ends, getting captured by naturalist Agori due to not receiving Mata Nui’s gift of how to understand their language.

Later that day (after the BoBM), Kopaka sees the GSB and Skakdi leave the MU w/ the Mahri and create a fortress on the coast of Aqua Magna while Sahmad, Telluris, and Metus (who travel to the Black Spike Mountains north of Roxtus) are captured by Annona. That night, the three of them are teleported w/ Anonna to outside the GSB’s fortress.

Annona feeding on the Skakdi causes the GSB to summon several nightmare creatures, breaking its hold on the Mahri. Sahmad and the GSB defeat her while Telluris dies and Metus escapes. Sahmad decides to return to the Iron Tribe homeland to pay his respects. The GSB promises they’ll meet again and that it and the Skakdi won’t be content w/ just their fortress.

At some point b/w the BoBM and the start of TYQ, Angonce observes the battle and its aftermath on his equipment. He goes to deactivate Marendar only to find that it has already escaped its vault.

After “many long nights”, Onua, Tahu, and Gali decide to send Gelu, Orde, Chiara, and Zaria north to Bota Magna to find the GBs and fulfill Mata Nui’s last wish while Tahu and Gali head w/ Ackar and Kiina to scout for a site for New Atero (Gali’s special mission that Onua mentions during TYQ and Gaaki during TPTB).

Days since the BoBM (Gaaki says that’s how long the evacuation of sea creatures from the MU has been taking, likely around the same time TYQ group leaves), Kopaka tells the Hagah to scout out the GSB’s fortress and find the Mahri before reporting back to him. If the Hagah run into the Mahri, it’ll be on their way there since they’ve already been freed.

Immediately after that, Lesovikk informs Kopaka and Pohatu about Karzahni’s breakout and goes after him. The two follow his tracks the next day and return Karzahni’s body to the camp as Tahu, Gali, Ackar, and Kiina return. They tell them they spotted Lesovikk heading north while on their way back.

Kopaka and Pohatu leave the next morning on mounts. After three days, they come across Tren Krom right after he is murdered, meet Gaardus, and are teleported to the Red Star.

Meanwhile, after “traveling for several days” on Sand Stalkers (also likely around the same time), TYQ group is captured by Kabrua. They are released outside the Vorox city the next day for them to be hunted. Gelu and Orde escape and find about the secret GB, while Chiara and Zaria are unaccounted for.

Some time after killing Tren Krom, Velika prepares a trap that’ll destroy the CGB’s fortress and kill everyone still inside, even though by this point, they were transported there around a week ago now (the only explanation I have is the CGB’s time manipulation power that he uses on Vezon in the Melding AU). Velika then starts carving a memorial for his victims.

Currently:

Helryx, Axonn, Brutaka, Artakha, Miserix, Tuyet, Hafu, Kapura, Vezon, and the CGB are at his fortress. Velika is outside the fortress. Lesovikk is 3-4 days north of the camp, likely near Tren Krom or the CGB’s fortress.

Gelu, Orde, Chiara, and Zaria are on Bota Magna outside the Vorox City trying to escape from Kabrua. Sahmad is likely on Bota Magna too (as is Lewa) or returning to the GSB.

Tahu, Gali, Onua, Ackar, and Kiina are still at the camp. The Hagah are likely 3-4 days away toward the GSB’s fortress, while the Mahri and Metus are likely nearby. The GSB is still at its fortress.

Kopaka and Pohatu are on the Red Star.

[byz-was-here]

So in the Sea Nomads of Aqua Manga au (here),

the big reason the Sea Agori and their Pleisosaur Boats didn't find Mata Nui immediately after the storms subsided from the GSR's crash landing is because of The Great Maelstrom.

Essentially, when the Great Cataclysm happened Voya Nui got launched upwards, ripping the roof off of Karda Nui and punching a hole through the Great Spirit Robot's chest cavity. Immediately the sea started pouring in through the hole like the worlds biggest bathtub drain. This played havoc with ocean currents, and made it more likely any Sea Agori fleet was going to wind up pulled into the currents feeding into The Great Maelstrom than reach Mata Nui. Voya Nui would technically be easier to get to, but compared to Mata Nui it's miniscule in comparison, making finding it simply a needle in a haystack scenario.

However, while writing this out for the au, I had an Idea. What if not everyone pulled into the maelstrom perished?

Deep in the heart of the universe lies Karda Nui, the world that feeds the world. Giant stone columns rise from the bottom of the Karda Nui dome, the remnants of giant stalactites that fell and imbeded themselves in the earth during the great cataclysm. The Av Matoran have made their homes and villages atop the towering spires, far above the swamp of secrets below. Since the cataclysm, and water poured from above in a great waterfall, creating the swamp below, The matoran whisper that some nights, some among them can hear strange cries and sounds from below. Some nights they hear the bellows of strange rahi. Some nights they hear chanting in an unknown tongue. Still, every Matoran knows to never leave the safety of the spires.

The Swamp of Secrets is aptly named, and some secrets are better left a mystery...

[byz-was-here]

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Bionicle - All Media Types Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s) Characters: Takua | Takanuva (Bionicle), Original Characters Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bionicle G1, Agori OCs, Agori ships are giant plesiosaurs and this is somehow actual canon, The OCs are kind of unavoidable when you're making up an agori tribe out of whole cloth Series: Part 4 of Sea Nomads of Aqua Magna Summary:

Stories have a way of spreading. Some can even change the world...

[byz-was-here]

Out of the Mists of Avalon

@crystaltoa​‘s post on the the Agori Living Plesiosaur ships (here)  has been bouncing around my noggin for days, and well. My brain took that thought and ran with it. I ended up hastily banging out the start to something in about an hour or so. Ficlet under the cut. Enjoy!

Moddesh squinted through the mists that now covered the sea. There was no sound to be heard but the waves, and the splashing of the ship’s flippers as they cut through the water. 

“Easy Alzada, easy...” He said, patting the neck of the great beast that served as his Ship, the other Great ships following his lead. The purple scales of Alzada’s neck deemed dull in the light that filtered through the mist, and Moddesh glanced back, to make sure that the rest of the tribe was still following his and Alzada’s lead through the gloom. Close to the center of the fleet, the Elder of the tribe, Etris, traveled on one of the older ships, the faint gleam of her helm visible through the mist. Several nights ago, Moddesh had gone to her for guidance- after what he’d seen. 

The agori took a deep breath, the salt air filling his lungs as he took his bone helmet off, pushing his hair back before replacing it and looking back to the horizon, thinking back to the tales he’d heard her tell as a child aboard her ship...

Elder Etris was one of the few of the sea nomads that still owned metal armor instead of armor carved from coral or bone, that were old and ancient enough to remember the event she only spoke of as the Shattering, where the world was torn asunder, the seas torn from the land, and the Agori with their living ships taken away along with the waters. Etris told in tales how in those first days, she and her brothers had searched, praying to the Lord of Water and Lord of Earth for a trace, any piece of land that could harbor them, only to find that the world was completely covered in ocean. The gifts from the great beings had helped Etris to live long enough to see her people change, adapt with the ocean, learning to survive by living with the rhythm of the sea, while her brothers vanished one by one, claimed by the waves of the endless ocean. 

The Sea Nomads had no need for land anymore. The Ships, living reptillian vessels with long necks, broad, wide backs, six massive flippers and long rudderlike tales, had been their salvation and their companions.  For generations, the tribe of agori had sailed the endless oceans, leading their ships on an eternal voyage across Aqua Magna, sailing their living vessels from reef to reef, letting them feast and sustain themselves, the agori taking what they could from the sea’s bounty, eeking out a way of survival in a world completely covered by water. That was the lesson that every young agori learned: The Sea Would Provide. Floating Kelp became clothes, nets, sails, and food besides. Shells could be fashioned into any number of objects, as could the metallic bones of the fish they brought in to sustain themselves. The sea brought trouble too, storms, thirst, and ravenous se beasts being only a few of the challenges the Sea Nomads had battled over the millennia. 

 Several nights ago, there had been sightings of a strange ship- one made of strange sea plants and billowing sails, and not one of the living vessels of the Sea Nomads. Pretra, a young, sharp-eyed agori had told him that she had seen Figures in blue running across it’s deck. Thoughts had run rampant through his mind- Was it a lost group of the Water Tribe? Fellow Agori thought lost forever, only to be found by chance only now, after all these centuries? He Immediately swam to Etris’ Ship, climbing up its broad back to ask her opinion, taking Pretra along. The elder’s eyes widened as he explained what he’d seen of the strange  ship, and Pretra told her what she could make out of the crew aboard it. Etris’s face was inscrutable, as she said that only a land-dweller could make that kind of ship. 

Moddesh had known nothing except the waves, and could barely grasp the concept of a place that was not-ocean. But such a place... A place for their elders to rest, for their ships to bear their young out of reach from the dwellers of the deep... A place that only existed in tales except for only the very oldest among them.  As the Ships lifted their heads out of the water to see the strange vessel draw closer, The Sea Nomads heard a distant cry of alarm in an unfamiliar tongue, and Moddesh hurried to the edge of Etris’ Ship to see that strange vessel hastily turn to sail away. Eyes widening, he knew that he could not let this chance slip away, not for his tribe. “After them!” He shouted, before jumping over the side to swim to his Ship, Alzada.

That had been several nights ago, and it had been difficult keeping the strange ship in sight. But this morning, as the sun had crept over the ocean, light had dawned over thick mist, and the strange ship had vanished in the gloom. He hung his head in defeat, feeling ashamed for having stressed his Ship and his whole tribe in an effort to chase spirit Tales. As he turned and walked along the broad back of his ship, he noticed Pretra turn to look at him, her mouth falling open in shock. Realizing that she was in fact, looking behind him, Moddesh turned, and stumbled in shock, falling onto Alzada’s back in shock. “By the Great Beings...”

He had no words to describe it, but far beyond the mist loomed the tallest thing he had ever seen, clouds of smoke billowing from its roof. To him it seemed like a titanic wave made of pure rock, so high it towered over the water. Slowly the mists parted, and more and more Agori began to exclaim in shock. The Peak of rock, billowing smoke was only the highest point he could see, as slopes of what could only be land spread out in front of the Nomads until it took up the whole horizon. 

A channel of water led seemingly into the island, the strange ship making speed towards it, and a collection of domes made of seaweed floating on the water...

...

“I Told you we should have sailed north instead of south!” Nireta wailed, trying to get the backup engine on the Ga-Tiki in some semblance of working order while Kai and Marka matoraned the Sails. “This is not the time to argue!” Pelagia answered, the Ga-Matoran steering the vessel into Naho Bay, glancing back to the huge heard of ocean-bound rahi on their heels. Pelagia’s Akaku, though powerless, still possessed an impressive set of lenses that helped her scan the horizon. 

“This is the first time Nokama’s let us go beyond the sight of Mata Nui in 200 years, She’s never going to let us so much as swim to the next hut after this” Nireta continued. 

Marka and Kai were too busy dealing with the Ga-Tiki’s rigging to enter their own opinion, but Pelagia was more than able to man the rudder and speak at the same time. “I’m less worried about the Turaga than I am about the Rahi that’ve been chasing us night and day.” She replied. Glancing back at the beasts following them, she could swear she could make out other matoran on the creatures’ backs. But she’d never seen or heard of any matoran that rode rahi like those, and life on Mata Nui had taught her to always be alert for a trap laid by the Makuta. The minute she’d seen those rahi’s armored heads raise out of the water to look at her and the other ga-matoran on her ship, she’d immediately decided to turn an sail back to Mata Nui- to Inform the Turaga if nothing else. As the green domes of Ga-Koro came into view, Kai dashed to the prow of the ship and she started banging the signal drum. 

Thum Thum Thum-Thum Thum-Thum Thum Thum... 

Pelagia’s Akaku focused on the village as the Ga-Koronan’s mustered their ships. Whatever was going to happen after this, it was certainly going to be Interesting...

[byz-was-here]

Chapters: 2/? Fandom: Bionicle - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Characters: Teridax | Makuta of Metru Nui, Original Characters Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, No Romance, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Warnings May Change, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better Series: Part 3 of Sea Nomads of Aqua Magna Summary:

Another entry in the Sea Nomads of Aqua Magna AU. Reading Out of the Mists of Avalon first would be helpful for context.

The Sea Tribe has come to Mata Nui after a hundred thousand years of sailing the endless ocean on their living ships, and now the agori of the sea tribe have begun to settle on the coastal islets around Mata Nui.

However, the matoran are not the only inhabitants of this island paradise, and The Makuta does not take kindly to tresspassers on his domain...

[byz-was-here]

For the sake of my sanity, I'm making a timeline and overview of my Sea Nomads of Aqua Manga AU here. The post that inspired this whole mess can be found here (thanks to @crystaltoa)

General premise is that a group of Agori with living ships manage to survive on Aqua Manga after the shattering, and eventually encounter the Island of Mata Nui and its matoran inhabitants. Butterfly effect ensues.

Ficlets:

(Ao3 Link)

Out of the Mists of Avalon

A Boat beneath a Sunny Sky

The Aged Aged Man

Size and Tears

Speak Roughly to Your Boy

A Sea Dirge

[byz-was-here]

The Aged Aged Man

Back again with another installment of the Sea Nomads of Aqua Manga series. This one directly follows A Boat under a Sunny Sky. If you haven’t read that, you can find it and the other stories in the AU here. As always, the fic is under the cut. Enjoy! (Yes I know Aged is in the title twice, it’s a Lewis Carroll reference.)

Perdix hid. He lay crouched under the cover of a large, thorny shrub with a hand clamped over his nose and mouth, breathing as shallowly and quietly as possible. Rain dripping through the leaves, and sliding off of his helmet only to drip onto his clothes, steadily soaking them through. Next to him, a figure lay still, only shallow breathing and the weak pulse of a heartlight showing that there was still life in her comatose form. Just beyond his cover, the hiss of pistons sounded, and grass crunched under heavy treads. A deep, metallic growl echoed overhead. The sound came closer, closer... Perdix stopped breathing entirely. Finally, the noise grew more distant, and he drew in a shaky breath. Two days ago... Perdix paced around the island, looking at the other agori sitting in lean-to’s and other temporary shelters, the kind they normally set up on the backs of their Ships when the storms came, only this time, instead of anchoring to the broad scales of a Ship, they were attached to the solid ground of an Island in the place the Matoran called Naho Bay. He paused, catching sight of an older agori and waling towards him. “Ockema, you didn’t leave with the fleet?” he asked.  The older agori was in the middle of using a knife to whittle down the metallic bones of one of the island’s aquatic creatures into a fishing spear- in fact, it was starting to look similar to the staff that the Matoran Elder, Nokama, carried with her. “Eh, Perdix? Pretra’s decided you’re ready to wear a helm, has she?” Ockema asked, setting the carving knife aside.  Perdix sat down on the sand beside him. “But not ready to sail with the fleet, apparently. Why aren’t you going? You’re not sick, and you’re certainly not a child.” 

The other agori chuckled, his helm discolored and pitted from years of exposure to salty air and punishing storms. “It’s easy to forget that you were barely more than a babe when we first saw this island. You don’t remember what life before Mata Nui was like.”  “We were free!” Perdix replied indignantly. “We didn’t have the Matoran looking over our shoulders, and the sea provided everything we needed.” He crossed his arms, emphasizing his point with a nod.  Ockema looked at him, his face tanned like leather from years of harsh sunlight. “Yes, the sea provides.” He looked distant for a moment. “But we must always remember that the Lord of Water is a fickle being. What the ocean gives, it may also take on a whim.” He looked at Perdix. “Many Agori do not live to be as old as I, taken by the sea. Young or old, strong or weak, the Sea can take them on a whim. Even Elder Etris’ brothers, blessed by the great beings with long life like she was, were taken by the sea, one by one. Yes, we were free. But there was a price for that freedom.” Perdix stilled. “You... But... We had our ships...”

Ockema took up his carving knife and resumed his work. “Not even they are invincible, lad. There are beasts in the dark deep that can drag whole Ships under, and all aboard with them. Storms can drown them same as any nomad. It’s a dangerous life, Lad, and a hard one. But this place... Here, no babe will be swept into the current, no lover dragged into the deeps by a hungry maw. I’m tired, lad. He looked towards the water lapping against the sandy shore. “This little island was flooded by storms not too long ago- That’s why the matoran let us settle here, across from their Koro.” He lifted a hand and pointed to the southwest, across Naho bay where the green domes of Ga-Koro could be faintly seen in the far distance. “But we’re no strangers to flooding water. Isom’s had some Ideas on putting the shelters above the ground on legs of this bamboo stuff the Matoran are fond of, while she’s laid up waiting to have her child. But Shelters on legs, I’ll believe that when I see it.” He set down the knife for the final time, and held the fishing spear out to Perdix. “Here, lad. It takes more than a helmet to make an agori.”

Perdix had remained silent through Ockema’s rambles, and took the spear with polite grace. “Thank you, elder...” he said, the older Agori’s words weighing heavy on his mind.  “Bah, I’m just a prattling old agori. I hear that clan head of that Ta place wants to hav another one of those red matoran poking their nose around here again. Make sure whoever he sends keeps his mask out of where it doesn’t belong, will you?”  Perdix grinned, remembering that red armored guard with the blue mask from the day before. That, he could certainly do. 

[byz-was-here]

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Bionicle - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Characters: Teridax | Makuta of Metru Nui, Original Characters Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, No Romance, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Warnings May Change, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better Series: Part 3 of Sea Nomads of Aqua Magna Summary:

Another entry in the Sea Nomads of Aqua Magna AU. Reading Out of the Mists of Avalon first would be helpful for context.

The Sea Tribe has come to Mata Nui after a hundred thousand years of sailing the endless ocean on their living ships, and now the agori of the sea tribe have begun to settle on the coastal islets around Mata Nui.

However, the matoran are not the only inhabitants of this island paradise, and The Makuta does not take kindly to tresspassers on his domain...

[byz-was-here]

If I write another set of Sea Agori Au stories, I'll probably focus on an agori travelling across Mata Nui and collecting stories and legends.

A chronicler of sorts, perhaps?

[byz-was-here]

Chapters: 3/? Fandom: Bionicle - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s) Characters: Teridax | Makuta of Metru Nui, Agori OC, Ahkmou (Bionicle) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Bionicle G1, Not Beta Read, Teridax has a god complex, Ahkmou is a snake oil salesman, Mangaia is a terrible place, The OC has a really bad time, Sensory Deprivation, Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Agori ships are giant plesiosaurs and this is somehow actual canon Series: Part 3 of Sea Nomads of Aqua Magna Summary:

Another entry in the Sea Nomads of Aqua Magna AU. Reading Out of the Mists of Avalon first would be helpful for context.

In which our protagonist meets a slightly less unfriendly face.

[byz-was-here]

Considering writing more ficlets in the vein of the Sea Agori Au mentioned Here and Here.

Each is probably going to be set after a timeskip with minimal connection to the one before.

First is an agori carrying their wounded matoran friend back to the nearest koro after an infected rahi attack cracked the matoran's mask in half. (and possibly gave the agori a concussion, too)

Second is probably a bit darker, with an agori being kidnapped by Makuta teridax, who wants to know about these strange interlopers on his island.

Third, maybe a couple of Ga Matoran and sea Agori find Voya Nui? not sure.

[byz-was-here]

A Boat beneath a Sunny Sky

Welp. I'm back on my BS. Have another installment in the Sea Nomads of Aqua Magna series. The first one is Here, if you haven't seen it. TLDR; Premise is that a group of Agori with living ships survived the shattering and have crisscrossed the ocan moon for millenia, finally encountering the Island of Mata Nui prior to the coming of the Toa. This one's going to be multi-part because I can't stop myself. Fic is under the cut, enjoy!

Perdix ran. 

His chest heaved, and sweat dripped across his forehead as he kept moving, his feet slipping in puddles of mud, the weight across his shoulders causing him to stumble, and he considered stopping to rest…  until a metallic roar sounded behind him, far, far too close for comfort. He had no idea the day would go like this…

Three days ago…

"But I want to go with you, mother!" Perdix stomped his foot, causing the green walkway under his foot to bob on the surface of the water.

"You can go next season." His mother Pretra answered, calmy passing a bundle of supplies up to another agori standing on Alzada's back. The living ship glancing at the pair of agori with a large reptilian eye, its purple scales shimmering with water droplets. as it exhaled, a gout of mist was expelled from its nostrils, hanging in the air for a moment before dissipating. The carved bones that made up his mother's helmet and armor were made of metal, but they had now been painted over with a vibrant blue dye, one that closely matched that of the armored figures standing just out of earshot. 

"I'm more than old enough!" he pouted, crossing his arms. 

Pretra sighed, rubbing the spot between her eyebrows. "The fact that you are arguing like a shipling says otherwise." she leaned over and put her hands on his shoulders, staring into him with vibrant green eyes. "While we are away, there will be the very young and very old here, with no nomads to protect them," she said, seeing how her son’s gaze glanced at the sole red armored figure on the walkways- who seemed more interested in watching than guarding. "So Moddesh has decided it is time you had this…" Pretra smiled, pulling out a gleaming metallic object from the woven bag on her back. A gleaming Agori helm, carved from the metallic bones of one of the strange creatures of the island.

Perdix's eyes widened, taking the helmet from his mother with reverence. "F-for me? I can-" 

"I'm not late, I- Oh, sorry."

A blue armored figure took a few steps back, from where she'd ran up the walkway, looking sheepish as she realized she'd ruined a moment. She wilted a bit under Pretra's gaze. "I can, um. I can wait."

The red armored figure in the crowd gathering a polite distance was openly grinning, and Perdix wanted to smack that look off of his blue-masked face.

Pretra brought her son’s attention back to the present. "Perdix, Moddesh has decided that you will be the one to guard our people until we return. Keep them safe, and keep them well, my son." 

"I will, mother," Perdix replied, grinning from ear to ear as he put on a helm for the first time. His mother waited for him to put his helmet over his head before pressing her forehead to his, and giving him a hug before she pulled back. 

"Alright, you…" Pretra trailed off, looking at the blue kakama of the ga-matoran awkwardly shuffling at the edge of the pier.

"Nireta," answered Nireta. 

Pretra looked at the ga-matoran, pursing her lips as she gestured for the biomech to climb onto the ship. Nireta glanced nervously at the ship as she edged closer, and gently climbed up its side until an agori helped pull her up onto the beast's back. 

"The sea will provide," she muttered. The matoran apparently made maps, and Moddesh had agreed to take the matoran along so that she could create a chart of the currents along their great migration routes. She had also, apparently, been one of the matoran on that strange boat Pretra had spotted years ago, starting the chase that had led her tribe to the shores of the strange island of Mata Nui. 

Pretra glanced out over the village of Ga-Koro, her eyes drifting over Nokama, the elder of the village, the one who had spoken at length with Elder Etris, and kept the matoran and nomads from coming into conflict. Her eyes settled again on Takua, an impish guard from another village across the island, sent ostensibly to keep an eye on the Nomads. Finally, her eyes flitted to her son, Perdix, who had barely begun to walk when her eyes first saw dry land all those years ago, now grown into a fine young agori. As she climbed up the ship's back herself, she whispered a prayer to anyone that would listen- the great beings, the lord of water, even the mysterious Mata Nui Nokama spoke of… "Please, keep him safe…"

[byz-was-here]

Chapters: 5/5 Fandom: Bionicle - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Original Characters, Nireta (Bionicle), Takua | Takanuva (Bionicle), Nokama (Bionicle), Vhisola (Bionicle) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Agori OCs, Agori ships are giant plesiosaurs and this is somehow actual canon, Bionicle G1, Mata Nui (Island), The OCs are kind of unavoidable when you're making up an agori tribe out of whole cloth Series: Part 2 of Sea Nomads of Aqua Magna Summary:

Several years after Out of the Mists of Avalon, a young agori of the Sea tribe finds himself running for his life, carrying an unconscious matoran on his back.

[byz-was-here]

Speak Roughly to your Boy

Hello Hello, Back with another installment of the Sea Nomads of Aqua Magna. This one immediately follows Size and Tears, and you can find that one and the others from the masterpost here. As always, fic is under the cut. Enjoy!

Perdix listened.

The sounds of Rahi could be found near the Hura-Mafa. He made sure to step carefully, aware he could draw their attention.

A snapping twig was his only warning as he turned aroud, seeing a metal claw slashing towards him...

Yesterday afternoon...

"You're sure?" Takua said, looking nervous as Perdix led him up the rising and falling back of the Ship.

"Absolutely, the old bull is tame as they come," Perdix answered, leading the Ta-Matoran to the helmsman's spot, at the base of the Ship's head. "Now if you press your fist to that spot there..." he said, grabbing a kelp woven harness and wrapping it around his wrist with a grin.

...

Perdix hauled himself onto the beach, his face pale as he dripped water. The old bull groaned from where it had come to rest on the beach, one of his flippers bent at an unnatural angle, the boats of the visiting Ga-Matoran so much flotsam and jetsam floating in the tide. He hadn't meant for it to get out of hand, just to scare him a little. Slowly getting to his feet as Matoran and Agori alike approached the shore in various states of fear, shock, and anger, he looked around. There was no red matoran following him out of the water. Takua... he could swim, right? He had to, everyone could swim...

A Ga-matoran with a visor-like mask and a wave-pattern on her chest armor ran past him and dove into the water as he stared numbly at the waves. After what felt like hours, but was probably less than a minute, she re-emerged with Takua draped over her shoulder, his mask askew. Perdix stepped forward to help, only for her to snap at him. "You've done enough." she bit out, jabbing a finger at him before laying Takua on the beach, just out of the surf.

The light on Takua's chest seemed to flicker, and Perdix's heart sank to the pit of his gut as he began to realize what he'd done.

"Move! Let me see him." The voice that spoke was as firm and unstoppable as a tide, and the crowd parted, revealing the Matoran elder walking towards the seashore, trident-staff in hand. Eyes bore into Perdix that seemed as ancient as the sea, and as they drifted over him, as cold as the deep ocean.

"He's not breathing, Turaga!" The ga-matoran said with a hint of panic, causing fearful mutters from the agori.

"You've done well, Hahli. Be at ease." Nokama said, gingerly kneeling in the sand next to the unconscious matoran. She closed her eyes, stretching her hand over Takua's chest, and the beach went silent. "Great Spirit, let me have the power for this..." Nokama spoke in a whisper only Perdix and Hahli could hear, moving her hand up over Takua's chest and neck, before raising her hand as it reached his mask, a stream of water flowing from his mouth and following the Turaga's hand. As the water collected in a ball over the Nokama's hand, the agori whispered amongst themselves. Perdix stared at Nokama in awe and fear, before Takua sat bolt upright, spluttering before saying, "I'm Okay! I think... what happened... is my mask crooked?"

Ockema's hand fell onto Perdix's shoulder with a heavy weight, and he was pulled away from the scene. The last thing he saw of that beach was Nokama's gaze staring into his soul, before she shook her  head in disappointment as Hahli helped her to her feet.

He found himself in the main tent, across from Isom and her baby, the mother glancing curiously at the young agori. Someone had taken the thought to drape a blanket over his cold, shivering shoulders, but otherwise he was being soundly ingnored.

The elders were gathered by a fire near the mother, speaking in hushed whispers amongst themselves. He wasn't trying to listen to them, though... his mind was still on Takua's body, still and unmoving on the beach, and Nokama's gaze piercing him like a harpoon through a makuta fish.

"Boy."

Perdix winced, the word cutting him like a knife. He slowly looked up into Ockema's face, the old worn agori's mouth drawn into a tight line, and his eyes sharp and stern, the other elder agori in Ag-Koro standing behind him. "Yes, elder?" he asked.

"Do you understand what you've done?"

Perdix didn't get a chance to reply.

"Tipthon's front flipper is broken. He may never sail again. Half of the Ga-Matoran's ships are in pieces. Ships they used to come here because they were concerned for one of our tribe." Ockema pointed towards Isom, who looked pained at the news of what had happened outside. Ockema's voice stayed even and firm, never once raising in volume. "But that is not what you cost us today. Think, boy. If a tribe have no ships, how will they fish? If they cannot harvest the kelp beds, how do they weave? With no fish, there shall be no bones to carve, no crafts to mend. We are now as Tipthon, crippled and weakened from your foolishness." The elders nodded behind him.

Perdix trembled.

"You are lucky foolishness can be cured, boy."

Perdix felt a bit of hope, only for it to dash on the rocks.

"But, it is not just our Tribe you have hurt today. A matoran from a tribe that is already weary of us nearly drowned for your foolishness. Were fate unkind today, I would send you to the south and have you grovel before the elder of Ta-Koro for his mercy. As it is, the Ta-Matoran bears you little ill will, and for that, be thankful." Ockema's voice softened at the last part.

"...What's my punishment, then?" Perdix asked, feeling like a small child, and nothing like the young tribesman his mother had proclaimed him to be on the docks two days before.

"That, is for Turaga Nokama to decide," Ockema replied. It was the first time Perdix had heard anyone call her by her matoric title, instead of the agori 'elder' that he was familiar with.

Soon after, Nokama entered the tent, helped along by Kotu. The matoran by Nokama's side seemed interested in looking anywhere other than where Isom lay propped up in the corner, where she had been silently watching.

Nokama's gaze was fixed squarely on Perdix. "...Perdix, pupil of Pretra?" addressinghim in Matoric.

The young agori nodded.

"You are banished from the gates of Ga-Koro," she spoke simply. "May Mata Nui grant you the wisdom of Unity, and purpose in Duty," she finished, nodding at Ockema and the other elders. There was a pause from the elder agori, before they bowed their heads respectfully in return. Then Nokama turned, walking out of the tent with hardly another word.

The elders watched her go, while Perdix swayed in his seat, mute and trembling. Beyond the gates.... Beyond the gates... None of the sea tribe had ever stepped foot outside the small islets in Naho Bay, not for any extended stay. Strange, terrifying creatures dwellt on the mainland, and the Sea Tribe had been content to stay close to the sea they knew well.

And now Perdix would have to brave that unknown interior alone.

[byz-was-here]

In the Darkness (Bind them) is now complete and up on Ao3.

Not happiest with it, but that's because I don’t like dark fics in general. and it does get dark.

Fair warning.